Articles
An HH-60L Blackhawk helicopter assigned to Joint Task Force-Bravo’s 1st Battalion, 228th aviation regiment, prepares to launch from Soto Cano Air Base, Honduras, Oct. 4, 2016, to stage at the Grand Cayman Islands to provide airlift capabilities for Hurricane Matthew relief efforts if requested by the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance. One hundred members of Joint Task Force-Bravo and Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force-Southern Command departed Honduras’ Soto Cano Air Base today aboard CH-53E Super Stallion, CH-47 Chinook, and UH-60L Blackhawk helicopters. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Siuta B. Ika)

Oct. 4, 2016

SOUTHCOM stages relief team at Grand Cayman

MIAMI — U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) directed a team of approximately 100 military personnel and nine helicopters to Grand Cayman Island today where they will be staged and ready to support U.S. disaster relief operations in the Caribbean if requested by the U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA).

U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Lisa Kent, Joint Task Force-Bravo Medical Element veterinary food inspection specialist, begins a preventive medicine briefing during a medical readiness training exercise, or MEDRETE, in the village of Bacadilla, Olancho district, Honduras, Sept. 22, 2016. During the preventive medicine class, patients learn about the importance of different preventative health aspects, and receive vitamins and soap.

Sept. 29, 2016

Healing bodies, winning hearts and minds

OLANCHO, Honduras — JTF-Bravo has been conducting MEDRETEs throughout Central America since 1993 to provide a variety of medical services to local residents who otherwise would be unable to receive regular medical care. In 23 years, more than 330,000 patients have been treated during MEDRETEs. On Sept. 22 and 23, the JTF-Bravo MEDEL team conducted a two day MEDRETE in the village of Bacadilla, Olancho district, Honduras.

Thirteen Honduran PUMCIR (Personal Utilizado en Misiones Contra Incendio y Rescate – Personnel Used in Fire and Rescue) volunteers and six U.S. Air Force Airmen assigned to Joint Task Force-Bravo who included firefighters and Personnel Recovery Coordination Cell members, led by Herberth Gaekel (left), 612th Air Base Squadron Fire Department liaison at Soto Cano Air Base, Honduras, and PUMCIR founder and instructor, pose for a photo midway through a three-mile hike up to a cave located in Comayagua National Park near El Volcan, Honduras, Sept. 24, 2016, to conduct search and rescue training. Gaekel seeks to involve U.S. service members in order to provide them an opportunity to share with and learn from their Honduran counterparts as well as to encourage positive relationship building between the two nations. Gaekel said the training he provides significantly augments what training the volunteers, who are also often full or part-time Bomberos, already receive, and in many cases would not receive if not for his program. (U.S. Air Force photo by Capt. David Liapis)

Sept. 29, 2016

Honduran, U.S. volunteers conduct underground search and rescue training

SOTO CANO AIR BASE, Honduras — Nearly a dozen Honduran PUMCIR (Personal Utilizado en Misiones Contra Incendio y Rescate – Personnel Used in Fire and Rescue) volunteers and seven U.S. Air Force Airmen assigned to Joint Task Force-Bravo at Soto Cano Air Base, Honduras, conducted a search and rescue exercise in Comayagua National Park near El Volcan, Honduras.

U.S. Army Maj. Jonathan Reagan, Joint Task Force Bravo Medical Element physical therapist, is applying a low load, static stretch technique to an eight-month-old burn victim during a weekly visit to Centro de Rehabilitación Integral de Comayagua, August 3, 2016, where he treats Honduran patients and provides follow-up care for their rehabilitation process. JTF-Bravo regularly partners with the partner nation Ministries of Health to provide various levels and types of medical care in a variety of locations throughout Central America, to include physical therapy, trauma, preventive medicine and dental. (U.S. Army photo by 1st Lt Jenniffer Rodriguez)

Sept. 29, 2016

JTF-Bravo MEDEL: Providing more than medical care

COMAYAGUA, Honduras — JTF-Bravo regularly partners with the partner nation Ministries of Health throughout Central America to provide various levels and types of medical care to include physical therapy, trauma, preventive medicine and dental.

Cmd. Sgt. Maj. of the Honduran Army Forces Carlos Valle and U.S. Army Cmd. Sgt. Maj. Shawn Carns, Joint Task Force-Bravo command sergeant major, pose for a photo before a Honduran Army NCO academy graduation in Zambrano, Honduras, Aug. 25, 2016. Valle and Carns will conduct battlefield circulations to each one of the Honduran military’s NCO academies to see how they might improve upon and learn from their program of instruction.

Sept. 23, 2016

Honduran military, JTF-Bravo leaders focus on NCO professional development

SOTO CANO AIR BASE, Honduras — As an institution, the U.S. military has continually evolved its approach to professional development within its ranks, with the primary focus of growing well-rounded Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen.

Members of Joint Task Force-Bravo’s Fire Emergency Services and Joint Security Forces prepare to fold an American flag in honor of the emergency services personnel who lost their lives during the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, during the 9/11 remembrance ceremony at Soto Cano Air Base, Honduras, Sept. 9, 2016. After the flag was folded, it was laid to rest on the ceremony's emergency services monument, and rendered a salute to honor the fallen heroes.

Sept. 13, 2016

Joint Task Force-Bravo honors fallen emergency services personnel during 9/11 ceremony

SOTO CANO AIR BASE, Honduras — Members of Joint Task Force-Bravo joined representatives of the Honduran Fire Department here Sept. 9 to honor the 447 first responders who lost their lives in the service of others as a result of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Robert L. Bridgeforth (center), 612th Air Base Squadron deputy airfield manager, poses for a photo with Lt. Col. David Aragon, 612th ABS commander, and U.S. Army Cmd. Sgt. Maj. Robin Bolmer, Army Support Activity command sergeant major, during the first senior non-commissioned officer induction ceremony held at Soto Cano Air Base, Honduras, Sept. 9, 2016. Bridgeforth was raised in Little Rock, Ark., and entered the Air Force in 2003.

Sept. 13, 2016

612th ABS holds first SNCO induction ceremony

SOTO CANO AIR BASE, Honduras — The 612th Air Base Squadron welcomed six Airmen into the top enlisted tier during the base's first senior non-commissioned officer induction ceremony here, Sept. 9.

U.S. Army Spc. Mariah Ridge, a military working dog handler assigned to Joint Task Force-Bravo’s Joint Security Forces, laughs at her MWD, Jaska, during K9 hoist evacuation training at Soto Cano Air Base, Honduras, August 15, 2016. Although the MWDs and their handlers were training in 90 degree, 100 percent humidity weather, they managed to stay in good spirits.

Aug. 18, 2016

JTF-Bravo K9s take to the sky

SOTO CANO AIR BASE, Honduras — Joint Task Force-Bravo has been a consistent presence in the Central American region since 1984, and is known by many for its helicopter support for humanitarian aid, disaster relief and counter-transnational organized crime operations and its medical readiness exercises; however, the scope of capabilities here go well beyond those primary missions.

U.S. Army Lt. Col. (Dr.) James Smith, Joint Task Force-Bravo Medical Element general surgeon, performs surgery on a patient during a MEDEL Mobile Surgical Team operation at the Dr. Salvador Paredes Hospital in Trujillo, Honduras, July 28, 2016. The MST performed 11 surgeries during the team’s three-day operation in Trujillo.

Aug. 11, 2016

Every move counts for JTF-Bravo’s Mobile Surgical Team

COLÓN, Honduras — The Joint Task Force-Bravo Medical Element's Mobile Surgical Team completed 11 surgeries at the Dr. Salvador Paredes Hospital in Trujillo, Honduras from July 27-29.

A young girl has her ear inspected by U.S. Army Spc. Kerry Holmes, Joint Task Force-Bravo Medical Element medic, during a Medical Readiness Training Exercise operation in Trujillo, Honduras, July 29, 2016. MEDEL conducts MEDRETEs throughout Central America to provide a variety of medical services to the local populations, who otherwise would be unable to receive medical care from licensed providers. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Siuta B. Ika)

Aug. 8, 2016

Merging Civil Affairs and Medical Exercises for long-term success

COLÓN, Honduras — Soldiers under the command of Joint Task Force Bravo (JTF-B), Medical Element (MEDEL), executed a medical readiness training exercise for the first time in the village of La Boveda, Trujillo July 28-29, 2016, serving a total of 1,072 patients of all ages during the two-day event that involved key leaders from both JTF-Bravo and Honduras.